One of the Boys
by Sarcastic-Bones
Summary: Based loosely on Katy Perry's 'One of the Boys'. Rose and Scorpius are best friends, but she's fed up of being seen as simply one of his mates. What happens when she becomes more girly - will he finally notice her, or has he all along?


**I've been writing/editing this for a long, long while, but I finally decided to post it. I really love Rose/Scorpius, but I tried to write them differently to my normal characterisations (although I think my Scorpius typically came out as a perfect gentleman - just like my Scorpius in my "Help Me, Please" ScoRose long fic. I guess some habits are hard to break... Lol).**

**I hope you enjoy this. It's rather long, but I just didn't think cutting it into multiple chapters worked for it. Having said that, if you guys read it and think multi-chap would work better, let me know.**

**Enjoy.  
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><p>"What about that one?" Al slapped Scorpius on the arm to gain his attention and then pointed at a Seventh Year girl walking past.<p>

Albus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, Darren Longbottom and I were sitting on the grass by Hagrid's Hut. It was the last day of term and tomorrow we'd be happily on the Hogwarts Express, leaving for the summer and our Sixth Year would be over. We'd be official Seventh Years soon.

I would never tell them (even though I told them everything) but I was really hoping to get Head Girl next year. All I could do was cross my fingers and pray.

Today was hot and the sun was shining so we'd gone swimming in the Lake, like most other students. I'd been dunked so many times I'd lost count - but I'd also defended myself by dunking them all back. Al was the fastest swimmer, so I'd had trouble catching him, but he couldn't tread water very well so it took me hardly any time at all to dunk him once he'd been caught.

We'd played two on two catch, where the sole obstacle of the game was to dip the other team underwater as many times as possible. Al had refused to be on my team because I'd already hurt his ego (to which I'd responded that he needed to grow up and be a man if he was going to cry over being beaten by a girl), so Scorpius volunteered. We were both pretty good at the game - Scorpius was good at restraining the captives and I was the best at dunking them - so we made a good team. Needless to say, Darren and Al lost by 104 dunks to 30.

Scorpius and I had been teasing them about it for the past hour and a half.

We were laying on the grass outside Hagrid's because he'd given us cold lemonade and a picnic blanket to lay on, but we'd been instructed not to take it further than ten metres from his house.

We'd been confined to his pumpkin patch.

Not that we cared much. We were pretty much happy to hang about wherever.

The guys were in prime position to see all the students that walked past and, therefore, all the girls that walked past in their bikinis. They were rating them all out of ten. They completely forgot _I _was a _girl_ sometimes, mostly because we'd been such great friends for so long and because sometimes I even acted a little guy-ish.

Okay, so most of the time.

"Look at those legs," Darren agreed.

"Yeah but how can you tell that's her real face?" I pointed out. They laughed. She was wearing _way_ too much make-up. Yes, it was a stereotype, but Hogwarts had one of everything.

"What's the bet that if I push her into the lake she'll melt like the Wicked Witch of the West?" Scorpius joked.

I high-fived him.

"I'll do it," I volunteered willingly.

"I bet you would," Darren said, turning onto his stomach.

"I could take any of these girls," I told them. "They're total wimps."

Again, all three of my best friends laughed.

"Would you be willing to fight them in jell-o?" Darren joked, raising his eyebrows cheekily.

I smacked him on the back and he flinched, complaining that I hit like a man.

"That _would _be hot," Scorpius agreed and, by the look on his face, his outburst had been accidental. I hit him too.

"Gross," Al laughed. "This is _Weasley_ we're talking about…"

"So," I feigned emotional hurt - well, in reality I was a little hurt that they could so easily dismiss me as even slightly attractive. "I'm still a girl even if I am your mate."

"Yeah, but," Scorpius grinned whilst he exchanged an incredulous look with Al. "You're _Weasley_."

"I do have a _first _name," I argued.

"But doesn't _Weasley _have a better ring to it," Al told me. "It's more personal - a nickname."

"Except that I know about twenty other people with that last name," I pointed out. Darren's lips twitched like he was thinking about smirking at that.

"But _Rose _is just so… girly," Scorpius chuckled at the thought.

"He's right," Darren finally agreed with them after a second, sitting up. "It's kind of weird."

None of us spoke for another minute. Then:

"Oh Merlin, this one's growing something out of the top of her head!" I laughed, redirecting their attention to another girl, possibly in her Fifth Year.

"That's her hair," Al pointed out.

"It really doesn't look like it," Darren grimaced.

"Is it?" Scorpius was staring open-mouthed, shocked from disgust and disbelief.

Al and I laughed at their reactions.

Once you'd hung around Lucy long enough, no amount of hair extensions, fake tan or make-up could shock you.

"Maybe she's wearing hair extensions," Darren suggested. They all looked to me for confirmation on this.

"Well how would _I_ know?" I laughed. I knew about as much about what went on at a spa as my dad did.

Scorpius reached over and ruffled my hair. "Shouldn't you know, Weasley? You said it yourself - you're the girl."

"Come on! _Darren_ knows more about hair products than me!" I pointed, somewhat accusingly, at him to back-up my point - he was wearing way too much hair gel. Scorpius continued to reach over so that he could ruffle my hair. "And stop doing that!"

I swatted his hand away as I laughed but he continued to try and ruffle my hair.

"What's wrong, Weasley," Al joined in. "Is he messing up your beautiful hair?"

"Take care you don't chip a nail whilst slapping him away," Darren added too.

I stopped slapping Scorpius' hand away so that I could shoot them both evil glares but Scorpius didn't realise and, instead of his hand meeting the barrier that was mine, he smacked me in the face with his palm.

"Ouch!" We were all in fits of laughter, but I still tackled Scorpius to the ground, using my own body weight to stop him from getting up and wrestling his arms above his head to stop him from tickling me.

As Al and Darren continued to laugh and Scorpius, stuck between me and the floor, tried to wrestle me off of him, I misjudged the distance between us and my balance tipped. We bumped heads and crumpled to a heap on the floor, still laughing hysterically.

"You're so clumsy sometimes!" He flicked my ear just to annoy me before sitting up, pulling me with him.

"She trips over her own feet half the time," Al agreed.

Mostly to get us off the subject of my klutziness, I proposed, "Who's up for a game of dunking again?"

"Oh no!" Darren flinched and raised his arms in surrender.

"Not with you!" Al complained. "You dunk people well hard!"

"And you hit hard!" Darren continued.

"Just because you lost," I spoke impatiently. Then I burped.

"Sometimes I think your more of a man than Al is," Scorpius joked, smirking at me. They all laughed but I didn't find it funny this time.

Okay, so truth is… I sort of have a thing for Scorpius.

Yes, _every_ girl does. I know! But he's my best mate, so it's weird… plus I don't think I'd ever liked a guy before. _Plus_, he rates me as an honorary man so there would be no point in even dwelling on those emotions because they're not going to result in anything, right?

If I had been just an ordinary girl at Hogwarts I could have had a chance… but _no_, I had to go and be friends with three guys and pretty much lose all my girly mannerisms.

I sighed without realising it. I'd never get anywhere with Scorpius.

"What's up, Weasley?" He asked.

I blinked and turned to see them all staring at me. "Nothing."

They all gave me the _'I'm your best friend and I know when you're lying'_ look but didn't say anything.

"So what are we doing this summer?" Darren asked as he started reapplying his sun cream. "Planting insects in Louis' bedroom again? Teaching my sisters new tricks just to annoy my mum? Charming Scorpius' mum into thinking Al is the next Elvis Presley?"

We laughed at the memories of the things we'd done in the past - as traditional, every summer we pulled one large prank on somebody we were related to.

We'd planted _millions_ of spiders in Louis' bedroom and then charmed them to be invisible for a whole week. Once the spell wore off he woke up in the middle of the night to realise that those 'itchy ghosts' in his room were large house spiders. Needless to say… he started screaming like a girl.

Darren, on the other hand, had wanted to teach his twin baby sisters to belch the alphabet, so we did that one year. Once we returned to school his mother took them to enrol at a primary school too - only they had to talk to the head teacher to get a place. They started belching the alphabet… It was legendary. Darren got into a _lot_ of trouble though, so we left them alone after that.

Last year we _had_ charmed Scorpius' mum to believe that Al was the next Michael Jackson for two whole days. It was the funniest thing yet - she followed him from room to room when we visited Scorpius' house and kept offering him cookies. Which begs the question - why did Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy think it appropriate to offer music legends cookies? Who knows…

"I'm actually going away this summer," Scorpius announced suddenly, obviously trying to be nonchalant.

"What?" We all complained at the same time.

"Where?" Al added, surprised.

"Australia," Scorpius told us, now somewhat sheepishly. "My dad booked the whole summer there. We leave the day after we get back and come home the day before Hogwarts starts again."

"So you'll be gone the _whole _summer?" I asked, obviously disappointed.

"Yep," Scorpius grinned at us then. "But don't worry, I'll still be around next year to give you the best high-fives _ever_."

I laughed half-heartedly as Darren handed me the sun cream. To cover up my speechlessness I pulled my shirt over my head, revealing the red bikini I'd been wearing all day but had kept covered up by my shirt (a gift from Dom which she'd _guilt-tripped_ me into wearing today), and started applying sun cream to my arms and stomach. I concentrated on looking down, rather than at Scorpius' eyes so that the disappointment I conveyed to them all was no more than that expected from friends.

I was afraid that he'd meet some gorgeous Australian girl over the summer and come back with a wife and two children...

I really did have to stop being so protective over him. If it was Darren going to Australia, well… I'd simply hope that he'd stay there… only joking. Mostly.

"Scorpius?" I heard Darren call, and looked up in time to see Scorpius' eyes divert from looking at my body.

Both Al and Darren were looking at him with amused expressions on their faces, their lips twitching slightly into smiles. I tried to keep my cheeks from reddening.

"Something caught your attention?" Al commented teasingly.

I raised my eyebrows at them all as Scorpius blushed a little, avoiding my gaze and instead searching our spot for something to distract us all with.

"I'm going to go give the cups back to Hagrid," He mumbled quickly and wandered out of sight behind the pumpkin patch.

"He's so whipped," Darren laughed.

"With me?" I asked, startled, trying my hardest to hide my hopefulness. "Hardly."

"With girls," Al laughed too.

I had to hide my disappointment.

"Look at that one!" Darren suddenly shouted, and then we all had to practically throw ourselves onto the floor so that we were hidden by the pumpkins to avoid the girl seeing us as she turned towards his voice.

I slapped him, laughing hysterically along with him and Al.

"You _idiot_," I managed to breath through my laughter.

"Don't shout it out!" Al laughed.

"Hey, guys, where-" Scorpius had returned but, because we were hidden away from view, he'd not seen us lying on the floor. He stumbled over Al's legs, regained his balance, looked tremendously pleased with himself for about three seconds, and then went flying towards the floor by tripping over my legs instead.

"Ouch," Scorpius rubbed his forehead, smiling at our doubled laughter ."Why are we on the floor?"

"Darren…" Al couldn't string his words together enough to even tell him.

I sobered up first.

"He's a complete idiot," I addressed Scorpius. "If that girl had seen him she would have come over here and beaten us all up."

"Except you," Al told me jokingly. "Because you could '_take any of these girls_'…"

"I could," I agreed, grinning.

"You're as tough as a man, Weasley," Darren commented as he turned back onto his stomach to sunbathe. Al and Scorpius agreed again.

I couldn't help but frown - this had come up a lot today and, besides, what did I have to do to get them to realise I was a _girl_? A perfectly datable _girl_.

I stood up. "You guys want anything from the Great Hall?"

Al and Darren indicated they didn't.

"Scorpius?" I asked.

He glanced up after a moment, obviously in his own world there, and looked straight at my eyes. "Nothing, thanks."

As I turned away I sighed quietly to myself. _Get over him, girl!_

I had only taken a few steps before somebody wolf whistled. All four of us spun around, rather surprised, to look towards the Lake not far from us, where a group of Seventh Year guys were messing around, throwing each other into the water and having swimming races with the Squid.

"Looking good, Weasley!" The tallest of them called.

I blushed.

"Shut it, Gavin!" Al snapped back. Scorpius and Darren glared at him.

"He's a jerk," Scorpius told me protectively as I turned to look at them all. For a minute I was happy that he was being protective, then I realised that his expression exactly mirrored that of Al's - he was being brotherly.

"Why?" I asked, annoyed. "Because he wolf whistled at me? It may have escaped your notice but I actually _am_ a female and sometimes it's nice when somebody notices."

Scorpius looked genuinely surprised, and confused. So did Al and Darren for that matter.

"Hey, Weasley," Gavin was calling back again. "Want to join us? I can show you a good time, if you like!"

"Shove off, Gavin," I snapped back at him. As much as the attention was a nice change for once, I hated Gavin.

I shot a rude hand gesture at him as I stalked off across the Hogwarts grounds to the main castle (resulting in a loud eruption of laughter from his friends), pulling my shirt over my head again.

I noticed Scorpius, Al and Darren smirking and loudly congratulating me as I disappeared from sight.

_Boys._

* * *

><p>I'd decided that I was fed up with being treated like a man. I was going to become <em>Rose<em>, not _Weasley_. And I knew just the people to ask: Victoire and Lily.

They were the most girlish people I knew and I needed their direction.

Scorpius had left for Australia this summer and Al was going abroad with Darren for a few weeks to watch the Quidditch World Cup in Holland (I was _so_ jealous, but Darren could only take one person and his parents didn't trust him to share a room with a girl).

I had nothing better to do with my days than read the hundreds of girl magazines Victoire and Lily had given me and become more girly. As it turns out, it wasn't hard.

Considering I was already a girl, girlish things came naturally to me.

_Funny that._

By the second week of the summer holidays I was so caught up in my new-found girlishness that I completely forgot about my best friends being guys - Al, Darren and Scorpius - until I got a letter from Al bragging about what a great time he was having.

I wrote him back a rude note, explaining that he could shove his great time somewhere more appropriate than in my face. He hadn't written to me since.

I spent the rest of the summer with Lily, Roxanne, Dom, Victoire and Lucy and it seemed that being a girl was so natural - at least as much as being friends with guys had been for me.

By the time September the first came I was glad that Hogwarts had come back around. I loved my girl cousins to bits but I missed the ease that I felt when around Scorpius, Al and Darren. They were less dramatic, less gossipy and _much_ more laid-back. The littlest things didn't offend them and I didn't have to bother with telling them about every second of my day.

I had received my standard Hogwarts supply list, along with something extra special - my Head Girl badge. I was glad that I could scream and jump up and down like an idiot with Lily because that's all I had felt like doing when I'd gotten the letter - see, being a girl had it's advantages.

The morning the Hogwarts Express was leaving the station, I found myself wearing a black miniskirt with a red top, a gorgeous necklace that Dom had given me for my birthday, beautiful rose shaped earrings and as little make-up as Lucy would let me get away with. My hair was done up in an elegant bun (which I'd had to enlist the help of Lily to get right - and by that I mean she'd forced it on me, but I quite liked it).

I hugged my parents goodbye and, as the train pulled away from the station, thanked my girl cousins for the great summer I'd had.

I found Al, Darren and Scorpius in our usual compartment - three from the end of the train. I hadn't seen any of them since the train ride home last term and I was excited about caching up with them.

They were joking and laughing loudly, evidently teasing Darren, as I pulled the door open, forgetting completely about everything that had happened over the summer - we were all back together again, and I'd missed them all.

"Weasley!" They all chorused when they saw me.

Al hesitated only a second when he noticed what I was wearing and Darren just simply stared in shock. Scorpius, who was looking gorgeous with his tan, stuttered and then gave up on speaking altogether.

I hugged them each in turn and took a seat opposite Al and besides Scorpius.

"How were your summers?" I asked happily. "And, no, Al, I do _not_ want to know about how you met all the members of the Holyhead Harpies because Aunt Ginny told me that you got Lila Jones' number and if you so much as mention it I _will_ stick your head down a toilet the instant we get to Hogwarts."

"_You _mentioned it, Weasley," Darren pointed out, Quidditch seemed to help him recover from his shock at my appearance. I didn't bother mentioning the change - I was waiting to see how long it took one of them to mention it first, if they even did.

I was sick of being mistaken for one of the boys.

"Actually, it's Rose," I told him. "People call me Rose now."

"Rose…" Scorpius stuttered again.

My heart fluttered when I heard him speak my name. Of course I wasn't going to let him know that, though.

I turned to face him expectantly. "Hmm?"

"You… you look-"

"Different," Al supplied.

"Hot," Darren smirked. I slapped him on the leg.

"Thanks," I grinned at them both. "But I could still thrash you at our spitting competitions."

They both grinned.

"You alright, Scor?" I asked, slightly concerned. He seemed frozen.

I heard Darren mutter something but it was too quiet for me to hear his exact words.

Scorpius kicked out at him viciously. "Shut up, Darren!"

Darren smirked. "It's so obvious."

"What is?" I spoke at the same time as Al. We were thoroughly confused.

"Nothing," Scorpius mumbled quickly.

The trolley lady came round then. Even _she _commented about how nice I looked and I felt really great that people were realising I could be feminine.

I felt so much more confident now, but not overly confident - I felt prettier, but I was nowhere near the prettiest at Hogwarts.

"So how was your summer, Scor?" I turned to him as we all crowded round the food trolley.

"Erm… good," He spoke carefully, like he was trying to remember it, even though he'd only just got back. "There was a lot of… of…"

I'd leaned across him to reach the Pumpkin Pasties and he'd trailed off. When I turned to see why he'd stopped talking, he was staring at my face, only inches from his.

I beamed at him, "A lot of?" I pressed, unfazed.

In fact, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would flat-line any second now.

"A lot of… erm, surfing," he said it like he was relieved he'd remembered.

I moved back to sit down and the trolley lady left, waving cheerily goodbye to us all.

"Oh cool," Darren was happy. "I wish I could have gone! I love surfing."

"I've never been," I told them. "But I'd love to."

"I can teach you some time," Scorpius smiled at me nervously.

_Did he think I was going to turn him down or something?_

"That sounds good," I replied. "I've always wanted to learn."

"I bet there was loads of fit girls there," Al asked Scorpius.

"A few," he mumbled, then left the conversation at that.

Normally when one of them, or even I, said something like that they'd launch into betting on the number of fit girls or something, but Scorpius didn't this time.

"Whoa, man," Darren pretended to look shocked beyond belief - sometimes he was so dramatic. "Are you feeling alright?"

I laughed.

"Darren, you're so overreacting," I told him whilst eating. "There's much more important things than fit girls-"

"Like school work?" Al asked.

"Exactly."

"Like getting Head Girl?" Al suddenly declared.

I spat out the Pumpkin Pasty I was eating - yes, I know, not very feminine.

"How do you know about that?"

"Duh, we're cousins," Al pointed out, smiling. "Of course the family told me."

"You're _Head Girl_?" Darren asked, both him and Scorpius sat up straight at the news. I nodded slowly. Darren got up and came to give me a hug and a slap on the back. "Well done, _Rose_."

I laughed at how he'd stressed my name. "Thanks, and you _can_ still call me Weasley, you know. I kind of like it."

Okay, so I loved it.

"Well Weasley, aren't you going to ask me about _my _summer?" Darren asked, feigning hurt.

"Of course," I smiled. "How was your summer, Darren?"

"Oh my Merlin," he squealed like a girl. "I met the Holyhead Harpies!"

I laughed with the others. "Of course you did…" I mumbled, amused.

"They were so hot," Al added.

"What about the one that looks like a man?" I asked. They both grimaced.

"Apart from her," Al amended.

"So did you get any of their numbers?" I grinned, teasing Darren that Al had and he had not, eating another Pumpkin Pasty. "Now that I'm an official girl I can give you insight into their working minds."

"And hopefully get your girl mates numbers for us too?" Darren almost pleaded.

Laughing, I told him, "I don't have that many girl mates, you know."

"Yeah but Dominique is pretty fine," He raised his eyebrows at me.

Al slapped him as Scor and I laughed. "That's my cousin!"

"Your half-Veela cousin."

"She's an eighth Veela," I corrected him.

"Same thing," He grinned.

A girl came by the compartment then, and pulled the door open. She was obviously in our year - she had perfectly straight chestnut hair and dark eyes and she wore a bright yellow dress which contrasted strikingly with her dark skin.

"Al!" She smiled before going and giving him a hug.

"Hey Pixie," he responded happily. "These are my mates. That's Darren, Scorpius and Rose."

We all waved hello when Al said our names. Pixie gave me a small glare - you know, the one you give the girl who's known the guy you like longer than you have, the one you consider your competition.

"Rose's my cousin," Al added offhandedly. Suddenly, as if by magic, Pixie was friendly to me after that. _Shocker_. "Pixie just moved here from… Detroit?"

She nodded. And sure enough, when she spoke, she had an American accent. "It's so great to meet you all."

We mumbled something back and then I stood up. "I'm going to find Lily and Dom quickly."

There was a slight lag in Darren's response, but then he answered as I knew he would, "Don't tell her I think she's hot!"

Even Pixie laughed. "Why not?" I grinned. "Afraid she'll turn you down, Darren?" I teased from the doorway.

"Definitely not," he scoffed. If you want a reply from a guy, just mock his ego.

"Actually, I'm going to talk to them about Quidditch tryouts, but if you really don't want me to tell Dom then why don't you just come with me?"

"I want to get to know Pixie," Darren smirked. We all knew what he meant - he flirted with anything. "Scorpius - go with her."

"Why me?" Scorpius looked startled.

"What's the matter?" Darren gave him a look that we all knew meant bad news for Scorpius. "Afraid you'll jump the new Rose?"

I laughed whilst Scorpius blushed slightly and glared daggers at Darren.

"No…" He mumbled quietly, looking to the floor.

I sighed exasperatedly. "Come on then," I grinned, hauling Scorpius up from his seat and out the compartment door. I gave Darren a _'stop teasing him'_ look as we went.

"I don't know what's got into Darren," Scorpius mumbled as an apology whilst we walked down the corridor.

"He's the same old Darren," I replied. "Just cockier."

Scorpius smirked. "He really is."

"Maybe it was meeting all those Quidditch Players at the World Cup," I thought aloud.

"Maybe it's just cause he knows you're _so_ out of his league," Scorpius chuckled.

"Please…" I scoffed. "I'm not out of anybody's league."

It seemed like he was going to argue, but then he simply stopped talking. I turned to see what he was staring at.

Sally, his ex-girlfriend, was standing in the middle of the corridor, talking to a group of Sixth Year boys and laughing much too hysterically. I knew those boys - I'd beaten them all at spitting matches - and they _were_ funny… just not _that_ funny.

"Oh Merlin," I sighed. "She's shameless."

Scorpius snorted. "She really is. Remind me again why I dated her?"

"Because she was _nice_ at the beginning of last year?" I supplied.

"I don't remember that far back," he joked.

We walked by them all then, and the guys had to double take to realise it was me.

"Hey, Weasley!" Jared called happily. "You look different."

I laughed, then yanked the hand he'd extended to touch me. I pulled it behind his back and twisted it. He flinched from his failure.

"You still can't touch me," I laughed, then let him go. He laughed too, it was a joke we always did - he'd try to stroke my arm or hold my hand just to make me feel uncomfortable and I'd beat him up just to prove I was more of a man than he was.

"Looks like she's still tough," Peter told Jared. "You really are a wimp - getting beaten up by a girl…"

"I was a girl last year," I reminded them.

"Yeah, but now you're a _girl_ girl," Ben grinned at me suggestively.

"Push off, Ben," Scorpius shoved him playfully. The other guys all '_ooooh_'d suggestively, teasing Scorpius.

"Oh, I really am," I breathed seductively, leaning towards Ben. He seemed taken off guard for a moment, and then I grinned at him. "Wow, Ben, you're so easy."

He blushed as his mates laughed and called him a loser and told him he'd just got '_pwned'_.

I noticed Sally then, standing between the guys and sulking. It seemed she only liked attention when it was on her nowadays.

"Hey Sally," I smiled, knowing it would annoy her - we'd never really gotten on well since the fiasco of her break-up with Scorpius last year. "Nice summer?"

"Shut up, Rose," she snapped. I didn't complain because I had known it was coming.

"Oki doke," I responded cheerily. "See you ladies later," I joked at the other guys, high-fiving them all, and then continued walking down the train with Scorpius.

Dom and Lily were in a carriage only a few feet away.

"You _tease_, Rose Weasley," Scorpius muttered flirtatiously under his breath. His hand lightly on my back as we walked away, he stood rather close. I smirked at him as I pulled the door open happily and was greeted by a chorus of hello's.

"Hey, Scorpius," Roxanne said equally as friendly, but slightly awkwardly. They didn't really know him too well.

"He's only here so I don't tell Dom that Darren thinks she's fit."

Scorpius slapped me round the back of the head whilst they giggled and Dom looked rather pleased with herself.

"You weren't supposed to tell her," He complained. The others looked surprised - it was probably the longest sentence they'd ever heard Scorpius say and I don't think they even realised how friendly we were.

I think many of my cousins were still under the impression that I was best friend's with Al, who, in turn, hung around with Scorpius, rather than us directly being best mates.

"So sue me," I grinned. "And you're not supposed to hit girls."

"Since when was that rule in place?" He laughed.

I sighed as if saying _'good point'_ and then turned back to them. Both Scorpius and I realised that there was only one space left on the benches - and neither of us felt like standing up. We exchanged a compulsory _'I'm so going to beat you'_ look and then both dived for the seat.

He got there first (probably because he had such long legs).

"Damn you, Scorpius Malfoy," I laughed. Then I sat on his lap. "You'll have to make do with being squashed."

The other girls in the compartment laughed as Scorpius shook his head. I felt him wrap his arms around my waist, obviously to keep me from falling, but it felt to me like it was more than that…

"Oh no," He told me sarcastically. "How will I ever survive your humongous body weight as it slowly crushes me to death?"

I slapped him round the back of the head this time. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that you shouldn't talk to a lady about her weight?"

"Nope," he smirked, then joked, "Nowadays she just asks when Al's bringing out his next album."

I couldn't help but burst into laughter at that. My cousins looked on, amused and slightly perplexed.

"If you're not here to tell me Darren thinks I'm fit," Dom spoke up then. "What _are_ you here for?"

I sobered up to talk to her, but I could still hear Scorpius' quiet chuckles by my ear. "We need to arrange a time and date for Quidditch Tryouts so that I can pin it up in the common room."

"Oh right," Dom smiled. She was Quidditch Captain this year, but she'd had to share the job with Al because McGonagall couldn't decide which one would be better - Dom tended to get incredibly hot-headed at games but Al could be immature at times. "How about nine o'clock on Saturday? We can get them over and done with so that team practice can start sooner rather than later."

"Sounds good," I told her as Scorpius sighed impatiently, already bored.

"Have you spoken to Al about it?" Dom asked.

"Not yet," I told her. "I figured I'd get a better answer from you."

"Can we go now?" Scorpius complained quietly. "I need to tell Darren what you told Dom…"

"Stop acting like a child," I chided him. "We're leaving now."

They all called goodbye to us as we left.

"Hey, Rose," Dom called to me just before I left. "Tell Darren I look forward to seeing him _real_ soon."

I laughed as I left. _And Scorpius thought _I _was the tease._

"You're so impatient," I informed Scor as we wandered down the now-deserted corridor. "I feel bad for the girl that ends up with you," I joked.

He started to say something but was interrupted when I was pulled sideways and into a compartment with the blinds drawn and Scorpius was left standing in the corridor.

Two guys from Slytherin, Luke and Matt, were sitting inside. Luke was the one who'd grabbed me.

"What about going out with me this Saturday?" Luke asked quickly, evidently in a rush so that the conversation finished before Scorpius walked in. He looked very cocky and it seemed that he really didn't imagine I'd say no.

"Sorry, Luke," I muttered, averting my eyes.

"Come on, Rose," He smirked, not even unnerved.. "It'll be fun."

"It's not that," I told him, avoiding his eyes still. "It's…"

"He doesn't think of you like that," His friend Matt suddenly interrupted.

"Who are you-"

"Scorpius," Luke clarified. "It's a lost cause, Weasley, so you might as well be open to dating other people now that you're hot."

He hadn't realised it but his words had made me angry. Luke was such an idiot sometimes - he really didn't know how to talk to girls.

_Now_ that I was hot? _Now?_ So he was saying that I wasn't hot before and that my appearance was the only reason why he'd just asked me out (which was obvious anyway but him actually saying it made him seem so much cockier and arrogant).

"You're such an insufferable little man," I spat at Luke. "Get a life."

"Me?" He defended himself. "You're the one chasing after somebody who doesn't even realise you're dateable."

Scorpius opened the door just then and walked in. "Guys," he asked, and he seemed annoyed. "What the hell?"

"Come on," Luke ignored him completely, returning to his first question.

"Look, Luke," I sighed and directed my words at him rather rudely. "It's not because of… _that_, it's just _because_, okay?"

"What's going on?" Scorpius asked.

"Nothing," I told him curtly. "We were just leaving."

"Scorpius," Matt interrupted. "Would you ever date Rose?"

"What… of course not," He spluttered, then scoffed slightly awkwardly. "She's… she's my best mate… she's my best mate's cousin…it wouldn't be… you know… Al would…"

The other two boys turned to look at me with smug '_exactly what I thought!'_ expressions.

I shot them both a rude hand gesture and, grabbing Scorpius roughly by the hand, I pulled him out of the compartment. Only when we were half way back to our own compartment did I drop his hand and slow my pace down.

"Weasley, what was that about?" Scorpius asked, not even realising that I was upset and that he should be considerate and not so annoying. "Weasley? Hello, _Weasley?_"

"Shut _up_," I exploded at him, releasing my anger at Matt and Luke and my disappointment that Scorpius had just said he wouldn't date me, at Scorpius. "Merlin, Scorpius, you can be so _obtuse_ sometimes!"

"What, I-"

"You just strut around this school like you're so amazing and talented and special whilst you objectify girls!"

I sensed that I'd shouted a little too much just then - the compartments nearby all went quiet and those with the blinds open were staring at me like I'd gone completely mental and declared a fetish for the Giant Squid.

I stared at Scorpius for a full minute and, in the silence, I knew he was wondering what he should be saying, wondering what would calm me down and what would simply aggravate me more.

I sighed impatiently then. "And now you can't even think of _one _thing to say?"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" He argued back suddenly. "You're the one that's suddenly gone all mental and started yelling at _me_ for no reason!"

I took a deep breath then as he glared at me. "Sorry," I mumbled. "Those guys just… _argh_, they're so _annoying _sometimes."

"Calm down, Rose," he told me kindly, placing his hands on either of my shoulders. "They've always been like that and you've never let it get to you before. What's going on? What did they say to you?"

"Nothing," I told him. The people in the nearby compartment all pulled their blinds closed, evidently bored with our conversation now.

Normally he'd drop it and leave the conversation at that but he surprised me by getting angry - rapidly changing emotions was _not_ like Scorpius - he was normally _so_ laid-back.

"For Merlin's Sake, Rose!" He started to pace - not a good sign either. "What's going on with you recently? Al, Darren and I leave you for the summer and we come back to find you're a completely different person! You've changed practically everything about yourself and you're acting all… secretive."

"I am not-"

"And you keep denying everything!" He continued. "The old you would never have kept stuff from me."

"Well, she already did," I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"You… what?" He faltered, actually surprised. The four of us would normally never keep secrets from each other, especially between Scorpius and I. "What secrets?"

"If I told you it wouldn't be a secret, would it?"

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about, Rose," he pointed out. "You didn't use to keep secrets from me."

"Well, I've kept this one from you for a long time, Scorpius, so you can stop looking so hurt," I snapped.

He seemed to take in that information for a moment, and think it over.

"It's like you're a completely different person," he was angry, but mostly disappointed in me.

"All I've done is change my appearance," I argued. "If that means I've changed completely… then _sorry_."

I said '_sorry_' very sarcastically, annoying Scorpius further. I didn't want to annoy him or argue with him - the words were just leaving my mouth before I had time to think about what I was saying.

The disappointment that I had kept a secret from him was an indication that it had obviously been a shock. _Yes, I am a girl. Yes, I do not tell you _everything_!_

"There you are!" Al exclaimed as he appeared behind Scorpius. "We were wondering where you guys got to."

"You've been gone for ages," Darren added as he stepped out from behind Al. "What's going on?"

I bit my bottom lip anxiously.

"We could hear you guys shouting at each other from the compartment," Al told us. "What's going on?"

"It's not always any of your business, Al," I snapped at him, my eyes unwavering from Scorpius.

"Scorpius?" Darren waved a hand in front of his face.

"Rose," Scorpius suddenly muttered, still staring blankly at me. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

I bit down on my bottom lip nervously. _I didn't really want to hear him act all sad and make me guilty for yelling. _"Erm… no."

Al's lips twitched into a grin as Scorpius finally blinked back to emotions and stared at me, obviously confused. "No?"

"Nope," I fidgeted awkwardly.

"_Before_ there's an argument," Darren spoke up. "I might like to point out that we're pulling into Hogsmeade Station now so you two will have to have your secretive talk later on."

And he was right, we were at Hogsmeade now.

Which meant that I'd have until the end of the Hogwarts feast to figure out how to explain myself to Scorpius.

_Why did I not think before I acted?_

He was, no doubt, going to quiz me intensely until he found out what my big '_secret_' was - and I was going to have to try and avoid him if I knew what was best for me.

Well, I was not going to admit to being in love with him, was I?

* * *

><p>The carriage ride up to Hogwarts was normal.<p>

Al and Darren started to argue about who would buy the new Nimbus first - Scorpius and I simply made inappropriate comments and jokes until my cousin Molly and her two best friends Sarah and Mia joined our carriage.

Darren tried to chat up Mia for a minute or two but she only glared at him in response.

"Rose," Mia suddenly cut across Darren's words to hand me a small piece of paper. "My brother wants me to give you his number. He says for you to give him a call."

"Erm, thanks," I mumbled, shoving the paper deep into my pocket.

"'Your brother' as in Jim "_The Player_" Ghost?" Al asked slowly.

"Yeah…" she responded with a _'what's your point'_ tone.

"No way," Scorpius, Al and Darren spoke at the same time.

"Excuse me?" I asked them, blinking quickly in case I was imagining things.

"I know players, Weasley, and trust me," Darren told me sincerely. "You do not want to date him."

After a second or two of the other girls looking at me, completely confused, and the guys waiting anxiously for my answer, I shrugged my shoulders. "Fine, I won't go out with him."

"What?" Molly asked quickly. "Just because Darren said so?"

"Because I trust Darren, Al _and _Scorpius' judgement, Molls," I told her truthfully.

"Leave it, Molly," Mia laughed. "She'll probably get asked by ten different guys tonight so let her choose between them. Hogwarts boys _love_ new meat."

The carriage pulled up to Hogwarts then and we all stumbled out. Molly and her friends hurried up to the castle, looking for the rest of their group, as we wandered slowly up the steps into the Entrance Hall.

Many pairs of eyes followed me as we walked through the doors. I liked a little bit of attention, of course, but not _this_ much. I just wanted to hide behind the guys.

"Oh no," I mumbled, standing between Al and Scorpius and nodding my head towards Bill, Gavin's younger brother. "He's coming this way."

"So?" Al laughed. "What's wrong with that."

"Is he the one with the nose problem?" Darren asked, answering Al's question for me as I simply nodded.

"He's so going to ask you out," Al laughed again, obviously reading Bill's determined facial expression.

"This'll be good," Darren joined him. "How many guys do you think will follow his lead?"

"Okay," I cut across all three of their laughter's. "One of you pretend to be my boyfriend."

"What?"

"No way," Al stated firmly.

"Otherwise they won't leave me alone!"

"I thought you wanted this," Scorpius told me, and I picked up the small hint of bitterness in his voice. "I thought that was why you did this whole makeover thing."

"I did this for _myself._ And I'm not ready to be bombarded by guys," I replied as I counted four guys checking me out - any new face (or changed, in my instance) was a rarity at Hogwarts, those who started as First Years with you were there until Seventh Year. "Come on, _please_, you guys…"

I gave them all my best puppy dog eyes.

"Go on, Al," Darren slapped him on the back, volunteering his friend instead. "Step up."

"That's disgusting, Darren," he shook his head at his best friend. "We're cousins. _You_ step up."

"_I _can't," Darren responded, his tone suggesting he thought his words were the most obvious thing ever. "I'm a notorious player-"

"And proud," Scorpius snorted.

"-among the students of Hogwarts. If I suddenly settled down with my best friend it'll be obvious we don't have a stable relationship and even more guys will come flooding over. Nothing attracts these guys like an unstable relationship"

"Well one of you has to do it cause Bill's coming over right now," I pleaded with them again.

There was a short pause, and then Al, Darren and I turned to Scorpius.

"Oh no," he held up his hands in defence. "No way."

"_Please_, Scorpius," I gave him my puppy dog eyes again. "Pretty please…"

He seemed to struggle internally for a moment, then gave up. "Fine," he grumbled.

"Yes," I grinned, having to restrain myself from punching the air, and wrapped my arms around Scorpius. "Thank you. It'll only be for a day or two, I promise."

"You owe me," he sighed, draping his arm over my shoulders as I leaned into him.

"It'll be easy for you," Darren smirked. "Acting all loved up."

Scorpius kicked him as we reached the Great Hall.

I didn't comment on what that was supposed to mean.

Okay, let's review the situation, shall we? Firstly, I was pretending to date a guy I have a _major_ crush on. Secondly, that guy was my best friend.

I knew I was crazy, no need to remind me…

Darren and Al were in Gryffindor but Scorpius and I were in Ravenclaw. Our houses were probably why Darren and Al were closer and why Scorpius and I were too. We'd come together as a four because Al and I used to hang around together a lot too, being cousins and all.

Scorpius and I bid them goodbye as they wandered towards the Gryffindor table, shoving each other to get the best seat, whilst we made our way to the Ravenclaw table.

We sat down opposite Lysander Scamander and his long-term girlfriend Jenny.

"Oh good!" Lysander suddenly exclaimed, hardly giving us time to say hello. "Don't you think Jen's new glasses look amazing?"

Jenny had, indeed, acquired glasses over the summer. With her straggly, long blonde hair and beautiful brown eyes her new glasses did suit her rather well. I wouldn't go so far as to say they looked _amazing_ but I understood Lysander was trying to make her feel better.

I admired him for trying.

"Oh… of course," I grinned at her encouragingly.

"You look beautiful, Jenny," Scorpius agreed.

Our compliments caused her to pick her head up. She had previously been resting on Lysander's shoulder, attempting to divert her face from being seen by anybody.

"Really?" She asked hopefully, her eyes wide.

"Definitely," Scorpius agreed.

"Hey, hey," Lysander joked. "She's _my_ girlfriend. Get your own."

We laughed.

"I have, actually," Scorpius smiled, his hand tightening around my waist. I tensed for a moment, just to ride out Lysander and Jenny's reactions, then relaxed.

Jenny's eyes grew wider. "Oh… my… word… are you- are you two finally dating?" She squealed, mostly looking to me for conformation.

"What do you mean '_finally'_?" I heard Scorpius ask, but I quickly interrupted that.

"Yeah," I smiled. "It took him long enough to ask me."

A look passed between Scorpius and I.

_Don't lose track of reality, Rose!_ I reminded myself. _Fake boyfriend. Fake boyfriend. Fake boyfriend._

"May I just say," came the voice of the happiest person I knew. "That you look _gorgeous_, Rose!"

The messy, overly tangled head of hair that belonged to Lorcan Scamander had evidently turned up to see his brother, but he had stopped short when spotting me over Lysander's shoulder. Lorcan and I had been good friends ever since we were little and, although we would never be anything more than friends, I had many fond memories of spending days on end with him during the summers.

He hopped over the table gracefully and without a second thought and then proceeded to pick me up and spin me in circles, both my vibrant red and his long blonde hair spinning wildly around us.

"Put me down, Lorrie!" I laughed, slapping him lightly.

He did as he was told. "Haven't you been busy growing up this summer?"

"I have, indeed," I replied happily, taking my seat next to Scorpius, who immediately took my hand in his.

As soon as Lorcan followed my gaze and saw Scorpius, his eyes narrowed and went cold. Scorpius' did the same. They both appeared to size each other up, as per usual.

Then Lorcan's gaze shifted to where our hands were intertwined.

"Well," He cleared his throat. It was always incredibly awkward when he and Scorpius were in the same room - for some reason they had not been anything near acquaintances since third year and nobody had been brave enough to ask why, not even Lysander. They had been almost to the point of best friends, and then… one day they just stopped and refused to say why. "I suppose I'll see you around Rose… Scorpius."

"Lorcan," Scorpius answered coolly.

Lorcan left swiftly, without even speaking to his brother. After a short moment of silence I turned to Scorpius and slapped him on the arm.

He was already fuming and my slap just infuriated him more. Luckily Scorpius wasn't the type of person to get annoyed at the wrong person.

"What was that for?"

"Why can't you two just get along?" I complained.

"Look, I'm all for it!" Scorpius finally exclaimed. "If Lorcan wants to apologise then he can, but until he does he doesn't deserve my civility, alright?"

"Apologise?" I asked, puzzled.

Scorpius realised he had finally, after several years, let something slip. "Look, just… just forget that I said that."

"I can't…" I told him gently. Our hands were still intertwined and we were leaning towards each other. Lysander and Jenny were politely engaging in conversation about the weather so as to give us some privacy, even though I knew they were probably listening to half of what we were saying. "You need to forgive and forget."

"I can't."

"You can't hold a grudge forever."

"I can."

"You're so stubborn!" I would have stamped my foot, had I been standing up.

"It's nothing to do with you, Rose!" He argued.

"Look, come on guys," Jenny interrupted us. "Stop it. There's no need to argue. You're getting yourself worked up over something trivial."

_Why were we arguing so much recently?_

Scorpius smiled first, then I couldn't help but follow his lead. "Sorry for pressuring you, Scorpius. It's none of my business, I just want to see two of the people I care about most in the world at least able to have a conversation."

"I thought Hugo and Al were the two people you care about most in the world?" He asked hesitantly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Scorpius," I couldn't help but smile. "I know you, Al and Darren can't see past my tomboy nature, but I can express real feelings sometimes so brace yourself - you are really important to me, okay? Don't forget that. I mean it."

A wide grin spread across his face and then he hugged me, his face buried in the wild craziness that was my hair.

"Rose?"

"Mm?"

"You're like a sister to me," He whispered. "You know that, right?"

I could only manage a weak '_Mm hmm' _and just about contain my dejected sigh as he pulled away and turned to face McGonagall as she stood to deliver her Start of Term Feast speech.

He'd meant it as a good thing when he'd said it - he meant _'We're really close and you're my best friend'_ type of thing, but choosing those words, saying I was like a sister, was just a slap in the face, to be honest.

Nothing had changed since I had seen that brotherly look on his face last year. Could he not see that I was grown-up? More mature? More available?

Maybe he simply wasn't attracted to me.

Perhaps I'd always be that dorky, manly, awkward girl he'd grown up with, dunking ice buckets of water over my head in the summer to annoy me or talking Quidditch and girl conquests with in the evenings by the fire.

McGonagall said the usual stuff - that Filch had added more items to his list of banned objects, that the Forbidden Forest was _F.O.R.B.I.D.D.E.N_ (Which she did, indeed, say slowly, enunciating every letter), that Seventh Years were not, under any circumstances, to feed the younger years to the hungry Greenhouse plants and finally, that the library was to be a place of learning and not for social gatherings.

After we sung the Hogwarts Theme Tune, each and every student with their own personal rendition, we were dismissed to bed. Scorpius and I made our way to the Entrance Hall, leaning casually against a pillar off to the side of the staircase as we waited for Al and Darren to appear. They seemed to be taking their merry time.

Many students were also loitering by the staircases, the water fountain, the large oak doors, the statue that had been erected to commemorate the Great War. The hall was noisy with students catching up with friends they hadn't had time to see before the feast.

Scorpius and I stood against the pillar in comfortable silence for a few moments, content with listening to the excited conversations students around us were having. One girl was discussing, in graphic detail, the romantic skills of a boy she had met on holiday. Evidently she hadn't bothered to check who was standing on the other side of the pillar. Scorpius and I had to avoid eye contact to prevent ourselves from laughing too much, but we were still shaking with silent laughter. A few of the older students were saying goodnight to their boyfriends/girlfriends with rather a lot of unabashed affection, whereas the First Years had all but disappeared, probably in fear. After two years of being a Prefect and having the duty of directing them to their dorms, I now had the privilege of delegating.

Finally, Al and Darren swaggered out of the Great Hall, surrounded by a group of Sixth and Seventh Year girls.

As they approached us the girls took their leave, heading off to join another group of Sixth Years on the opposite side of the Hall.

"You took your time," Scorpius pointed out as they joined us.

"We were distracted," Al grinned.

"Talking about distractions…" Darren turned to me, a smug look on his face. "Bill didn't shut up all dinner about you, Rose."

"What did Rose do over the summer?" Al imitated Bill, evidently irritated by the boy.

"Has she got a boyfriend?" Darren added.

"Is she dating Malfoy?"

"Are they serious?"

"Is she trying out for Quidditch this year?"

"Did she go abroad over the summer?"

"Is she interested in going to a Weird Sisters concert?"

"Okay, okay…" I laughed, gesturing with my hands for them to shut up. As much as Bill's incessant questioning was weird, Al and Darren's obvious annoyance was hilarious. "I think I get the picture."

"You need to talk to him, Rose," Al pleaded with me. Darren agreed.

"Can't the slimy little creep just take a hint?" Scorpius retorted bitterly.

Al, Darren and I shared a look - a _let's ignore the meaning of that comment_ look.

"I don't want to talk to him, though," I pouted, complaining like a child.

Suddenly Scorpius' arm draped itself round my shoulders and he leaned slightly towards me, as if a natural instinct.

"Bill's looking this way," He breathed into my ear as he turned and pretended to look at something over my shoulder. I caught a wave of his cologne, or perhaps just his natural smell, and felt warm inside from his close presence. It made me feel good and calm.

Al and Darren smirked at us both, obviously entertained by our game. They started up a conversation about timetables as the last drags of students left the Great Hall, joining the large number of students already hanging around, unwilling to get to bed.

"If we get double potions together this year…" Al beamed at Scorpius. "Rats tails are _so_ going in Melanie's potion!"

"Don't you think it's about time you let the poor girl alone?" I asked futilely.

The guys laughed at that. "After what she did to Darren?"

"Definitely not," Al stated firmly.

I won't go into the details, because they are not pretty, but Melanie had used Darren time and time again. As possibly the only girl he ever fallen for, the way she had behaved _was_ horrible. Having said that… it _was_ two years ago and the guys had constantly been teasing and pranking her since.

"Can we not talk about her?" Darren raised his eyebrows at us. He really did hate her nowadays. Any mention of her name made him sad. To be honest, I don't think he'd truly gotten over her.

We didn't speak for a minute.

"What about that Holyhead Harpies Match on Friday?" Scorpius suddenly said to diffuse the awkwardness.

"That Farrow sure can take a Bludger," Darren agreed, thankfully embracing the topic.

"I don't know, that last goal was just luck if you ask me," I argued. "They shouldn't have tried to play tactfully by diving left and moving right."

"But it worked," Scorpius replied animatedly.

"I still think that Chudley Cannons are in with a chance for the Championship this year," Al received much debate from that comment.

Just as I was about to comment, things changed.

Al and Darren were arguing over the skill the Chudley Cannons had but Scorpius, perceptive as always, had spotted Bill watching us (or, more accurately, watching me and glaring at his arm around my shoulder) and his stalker for three years, now a sixth year, Amber Thomas, had begun heading our way.

Without warning, without thought or, seemingly without control, he spun so that he was directly in front of me, facing the pillar that I was leaning on, before bringing his lips to mine, his hands at the base of my neck, pulling my face towards his.

Al and Darren were so shocked that they were silenced mid-sentence, staring at us in disbelief. Yes, they liked to tease Scorpius, but _actually_ faced with the possibility of us together, they'd laugh and pass it off as implausible.

A few of the students nearby cottoned on after a few seconds, once I had responded by wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me. They all had dumfounded expressions on their face and gossip, as you well know, travels like Fiendfyre at Hogwarts. Some of them were pretending to keep up a conversation with their friend, but they were staring in amazement at us.

I, on the other hand, would have to deal with the questions and problems later on. For now, though, I allowed myself to enjoy the moment. It had to be as believable as possible, after all we were pretending to be a real couple and real couples at Hogwarts tended to make-out anywhere and everywhere, so it was no surprise that we didn't break apart for a fair amount of time.

"Well…" Al mumbled to Darren. "I didn't see _that_ coming."

"At least not this second," Darren agreed, and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"You know…" Al finally mumbled. "Bill's already left."

Scorpius took one hand off my cheek to shove it playfully in Al's face, before pulling me closer to him.

"I don't give a damn about _Bill_," He responded as he pulled away from me, his forehead still resting on mine.

"A little bit of warning would have been nice, you know…" I mumbled, thankfully sounding calm and indifferent.

"Yeah, and for us," Al complained. "If Darren and I started snogging you'd want fair warning, wouldn't you?"

Scorpius and I exchanged amused _'does he know what he's saying?'_ expressions as Darren slapped Al round the back of the head. "Thanks for that, man."

"Well," I began, flicking my hair back out of my face and trying to regain some composure as a few other students looked on. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Are you going to go with her, Scorpius?" Darren teased suggestively.

"To Ravenclaw Tower, he means," Al added. "Because you're in the same House… that's what you meant, right, Darren?"

"Of course," Darren smirked.

_Sometimes they _so_ reminded me of stories I'd heard about Uncle George and Fred._

"Shut up," Scorpius shot them a rude hand gesture as he turned to follow me.

We walked in silence up to Ravenclaw Tower, almost awkwardly. By the time we'd entered the common room and reached the stairs, Scorpius was obviously ready to say something.

We turned to each other.

"Erm, about earlier…"

I smiled at him.

"We don't have to talk about it, Scor." I told him. "I know you did it as a distraction method. I'm not going to start making up hidden meanings behind it. If you want to forget about it that's… that's totally fine with me."

He nodded, staring at the floor.

There was another pause. We both realised that there was nothing more we could bring ourselves to say to each other.

_Wow, tomorrow's going to be awkward._

I coughed as I turned to make my way up the stairs. "Well, I guess I'll see you-"

"Wait," Scorpius suddenly said, catching my arm gently, spinning me back around to face him. "I… don't want to pretend anymore, Rose."

I gulped. I should have been expecting this. "I know I shouldn't have asked you, Scor, but just one more day, please? We don't even have to be near each other. I'm so sorry that I-"

He interrupted me with his laughter. I stared at him in disbelief - he was _laughing_ at me. I was trying to apologise and he was _laughing_. I placed my hands on my hips in annoyance, waiting for him to quieten down.

"I don't mean _that_," He shook his head as his chuckling subsided. He face turned serious and anxious all of a sudden. "When we were friends… I could handle it, but… I can't _pretend_ anymore, Rose. I want to be… your boyfriend, if you'll have me?"

For a second I thought I was dreaming.

I couldn't believe it - he liked me, he'd liked me _before_ I changed how I looked. _He _had kissed me, _he _was the one asking me now to be more than friends after years of knowing each other, after years of me longing for him to notice me.

_He_ was the one anxiously waiting for an answer.

Suddenly my brain kicked in. _Answer him, Rose!_

I couldn't. I didn't know what to say, even though mentally I was screaming at myself, _Say yes!_

Instead, I launched myself forward, even though I was standing a step above him, and kissed him, my arms wrapping round his neck.

His arms came up to wrap around my waist and, even though the portrait hole opened and I knew the students entering had probably just spotted us, I didn't care.

When we pulled apart, grinning, he asked, "I'll take that as a _'yes'_?"

I rolled my eyes.

_Boys._

* * *

><p><strong>Phew, I hope that wasn't too much of a marathon sitting for you. Please please please let me know what you think, because this story is, like, my baby and I've been working on it for a long time.<strong>

****Firstly, I haven't updated since I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2, so I feel it is compulsory to just say "OH MY GOSH, wasn't it amazing?" I think it's my favourite film out of them all and, no, I didn't cry a lot... I just cried the once, but for a really long time (about 30 minutes, I swear), lol. What did you guys think?****

**Anyway, thank you so much for reading. x**_  
><em>


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